BRUYÈRE–HOUILLON POULSARD 2016

Wine Insight

Adeline Houillon and Renaud Bruyère have been building their domaine along the years in Pupillin outside Arbois, starting in 2011 with less than one hectare located in Arbois and with a surface today of 5 hectares stretched between Pupillin and Arbois. Adeline who is the sister of Emmanuel Houillon has been learning while working with her siblings at Domaine Overnoy with Emmanuel and Aurélien. Renaud who is originally from the Rhône (Tain-L'Hermitage, he was a cook there and met Adeline in the rhône) worked with Emmanuel now and then from 2004 to 2007 while refurbishing this house and then with Stéphane Tissot along 7 years from 2007 to 2015 (he kept working there after starting their domaine).

Adeline and Renaud live literally next door to Houillon-Overnoy and vinify their wines in their cellar under their house which has an old rusted sign reading Vins Fins (fine wines). They vinify naturally, don't filter or add anything in the wine and farm.

They vinify everything in parcellaire with 4 varieties altogether : Chardonnay, Savagnin for the whites, and Ploussard and Trousseau for the reds.

"Renaud and Adeline have, once again, produced a beautiful, light, elegant red wine from the local Ploussard grape variety. The Ploussard benefits from the Triassic clay in which the vines thrive. Much of their production is sold in two local bars, namely Bistrot des Claquets (where we can always be found when we are in the area) and Les Jardins de St-Vincent. In both of these places locals and visiting Jura afficionados seek out this wine for its purity and finesse.

We find the back label (contra-etiquette) on each of the wines from Bruyère and Houillon very informative. As you can see the label is in French but it is relatively easy to get a sense of what they are saying.

Bruyere-Arbois-Pupillin-2017-Rouge-ContraThey start by saying that the terroir is “argileux du Trias” which is Triassic era clay along with Lias which is limestone. The grapes are picked by hand (vendange manuelle) and the grapes are separated from the bunches using a screen that they rub the bunches on (criable). The grapes then undergo a type of carbonic maceration where enzymes in the grape are responsible for fermentation of the sugars inside the grape. As the grapes break down, normal alcoholic fermentation begins via the yeasts on the grapes and this occurs in a tank for 32 days.

The term “cuvaison” refers to leaving the skins and pips in contact with the juice so that the anthocyanins which provide the colour are extracted from the skin.

The wine is bottled without any filtration and without the addition of any sulphites. The last sentence points out that some carbon dioxide may remain in the bottle as it is a natural preservative that they encourage."

"Fantastic Poulsard, that hits in all the right places. Easy to drink, while still being insanely complex and layered. Hard to describe. Laser sharp acidity and utterly genius. Fruity, fresh, juicy, sharp, mineral and so much more. A fresh fruit bomb."

Pairs Well With:
Drink on its own!

Sounds Like:
Sonic Youth - Sunday